| Hydrogen for energy storage
Offloading electrolysers at ACES Delta
ACES Delta, a Mitsubishi Power perspective
A joint venture between Mitsubishi Power Americas and Chevron (via its acquisition from Haddington Ventures of Magnum Development in September 2023), the ACES Delta project is developing a large hydrogen hub to produce, store, and deliver green hydrogen to the western United States, including to a nearby combined cycle power plant being developed by Intermountain Power Agency to replace coal generation at its Intermountain Power Plant (IPP)
Located in Delta, Utah, the Advanced Clean Energy Storage hub, employing solution mined salt caverns, is expected to be the USA’s largest hydrogen storage facility when it enters operation, initially having a capacity of over 300 GWh, with enormous capability for more. Said to be the first project to combine utility and industrial scale renewable hydrogen production, storage, and transmission, the Advanced Clean Energy Storage hub will support Intermountain Power Agency’s ‘IPP Renewed’ project, the main component of which is construction of an 840 MW hydrogen-capable combined cycle power plant. This will employ two M501JAC gas turbines that will initially run on a blend of 30% green hydrogen and 70% natural
gas, starting in 2025 and incrementally expanding to 100% green hydrogen by 2045. Building on this initial flagship project, the plan is to deploy hydrogen hubs across the United States.
Origins of a first mover
Innovation, collaboration, and problem solving on a massive scale are required for a project like this. The story of ACES Delta starts in the 70s, when geologists recognised the large salt anomaly present in Utah and were excited to pursue the potential for oil. When they realised it was a dry hole, they just catalogued it and moved on. This record sat in a filing cabinet for decades. Then, in 2007, a geologist named Rob Webster (Magnum Development) came across these
records and became interested in their potential – he had studied similar developments in the Gulf Coast and realised that the one in Utah was one of the only ones present in the Western US. Here, he immediately recognised the potential for storing commodities relevant to the energy sector.
In 2017, when Mitsubishi Power got involved, the idea for hydrogen storage emerged, and here we are today. We are looking to operate at 100% hydrogen by 2045. But now, the next obstacle: Where are we doing to get the hydrogen from? Enter the hydrogen production hub concept. All this is to say that collaboration, honest conversations, and building relationships are required to make things on this scale happen.
www.modernpowersystems.com | July/August 2024 | 23
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61
